home Uncategorized The Mizzou Libraries Are Here for You

The Mizzou Libraries Are Here for You

Posted on April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

Whether you want research help in person while social distancing or remotely from the safety and comfort of your home, the Mizzou Libraries will stay connected with you!

Many library services — including consultations and assistance, library instruction, reserves and events — will continue remotely online through the summer with some in-person options. The emphasis on remote library services will allow faculty and students to continue their work, regardless of location.

Among the changes that library users will continue to find this semester:

Everyone in library buildings will need to wear a face mask and maintain 6 feet of physical distancing. Library users may only remove their mask while eating at the Bookmark Cafe on the ground floor. (This University policy does not make an exception for individuals who have received the vaccine.)
An MU ID will be required to access the building after 5 pm.
For a complete listing of intersession and summer session hours, visit library.missouri.edu/hours.
The Check-Out & Information Desk on the north side of the first floor will serve as a single service desk for assistance in the library. Visit Ask the Librarians! for online help or to schedule a consultation.
Furniture and computer workstations will be spread out in order to ensure physical distancing. The library’s Safety Team will monitor the building to make sure all library users are being safe. Library patrons are asked not to move furniture.
Study rooms will be single occupancy only. Library patrons must use masks in study rooms and keep doors open for proper ventilation. You can reserve a study room through the online reservation system. We encourage study groups to meet on Zoom or other online platforms. If you need a space to do in-person group work, you many use rooms 114 and 114A. The furniture is set up for groups to work while maintaining proper distances.
The ground floor and 1st floors of Ellis Library have been designated as “quiet conversation allowed” for library users, including students who need to attend their online classes in the library. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors are designated as quiet study space.
The west stacks are closed. To request books or other items, please place an online request and the library will retrieve them for you.
Library materials may be quarantined when they are returned, and the items may stay on your library account during that time. No fines will be assessed for items that are in quarantine.
Food and drink will only be allowed on the ground floor of the library. Masks must be worn on the ground floor unless the user is actively eating or drinking.
DigiPrint services has moved out of Ellis Library and is now located in MU Student Center Room 1212A

Library personnel will carefully assess how the new service models are working and will determine whether services can be gradually scaled up or, conversely, whether conditions will require a return to delivering more services remotely. For the latest information on library services and hours, visit library.missouri.edu. You may also subscribe to one of our weekly email newsletters to stay up to date.

Additional Information Regarding Specialized Libraries
Zalk Veterinary Medical Library

J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Engineering Library and Technology Commons

Journalism Library

home Resources and Services Without Intent to Preserve, Digital News as Public Record Will Disappear

Without Intent to Preserve, Digital News as Public Record Will Disappear

By Shannon Cary Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on April 19, 2021May 19, 2021

COLUMBIA, MO – It’s no headline that newsrooms across the country today are struggling to survive, battered by multiple economic forces, the manic march of digital competition and technology, the storm of political attacks on their mission and in 2020 the sudden repercussions of an invisible pandemic predator. While these are well known across the news industry, one little-recognized, unlisted casualty of this struggle is the impact on an irreplaceable resource that citizens and researchers rely on: the public record of their communities as recorded by their local newspaper, radio or TV station, online newsroom or other news outlet.

The results of an 18-month long research investigation to discover how news organizations in the U.S, and Europe are preserving digital news and to identify best practices, problem areas and changes needed to avoid unintentional loss of content were released today in the report: Endangered but Not Too Late: The State of Digital News Preservation.

Leading a group of University of Missouri faculty researchers and industry experts on this project, Edward McCain, Digital Curator of Journalism from the University of Missouri Libraries and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and his team interviewed 115 individuals from 29 news organizations, four news technology companies, two news aggregators and five memory institutions, diving deeply into the technology used by these organizations in order to better understand how digital news content can be preserved.

What’s clear from this research is that the typical expectation of readers and the public, that news preservation is automatic in the digital age, simply isn’t correct. Chances are, in fact, that unless news organizations do something specific and intentional to preserve it, some or all of their born-digital content will be gone in a few years. It will no longer be accessible, readable, searchable or recoverable unless deliberate steps are taken to ensure it is.

Some of the findings:

Newsrooms save some but not all digital content
Saved content is mostly text, images, video
Public media have better resources, better archives
Internal use is primary, public access important but often outsourced
Top tech challenge is managing multiple digital channels
Web CMS is central, often doubles as archive
Some use asset systems as archives, others rely on web CMS
News metadata is often haphazard, inconsistent
System migrations often lead to lost content
Financial stress on news industry displaces preservation
Migration to digital publishing incomplete, can mean lost content
Relying solely on web CMS can be problematic for preservation
There’s often nobody left to mind the archive store
Good preservation is linked strongly to mission, policy, track record
Track record of preservation matters

Based on the findings, the report offers three levels of recommendations for news organizations to preserve their digital content, based on degree of difficulty or cost.

Immediate actions: Steps that can be taken now, at little or no cost, to begin the process of ensuring news content is preserved
Medium-term actions: Steps outlined in the report are actions that will take longer to accomplish and may involve investments in technologies, staff or funding
Industry-wide actions: Long-term steps that involve more than one newsroom pursuing solutions that involve policy changes, institutional partnerships, actions by industry sub-groups or news associations as well as some government actions

The Preserving Digital News Project was generously supported by the Andrew. W. Mellon Foundation

For more information about: Endangered but Not Too Late: The State of Digital News Preservation, visit https://www.rjionline.org/preservenews

SOURCE: University of Missouri Libraries & the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

CONTACT: For comment, please contact: Edward McCain (mccaine@rjionline.org), Digital Curator of Journalism

home Cycle of Success Cycle of Success Revisited: Dr. Noah Manring

Cycle of Success Revisited: Dr. Noah Manring

By Shannon Cary Posted in Cycle of Success

Posted on April 16, 2021May 16, 2021

The MU Libraries congratulates Dr. Noah Manning on his new appointment as dean of the College of Engineering. Dr. Manring is a long-time supporter of the Libraries. Check out how he used Special Collections in his History of Modern Engineering class back in 2017.

Cycle of Success is the idea that libraries, faculty, and students are linked; for one to truly succeed, we must all succeed. The path to success is formed by the connections between University of Missouri Libraries and faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between students and the libraries that serve them. More than just success, this is also a connection of mutual respect, support, and commitment to forward-thinking research.

Dr. Noah D. Manring is the Glen A. Barton Professor of fluid power in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Missouri. He previously served as chairman of the college’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and twice has served as associate dean of research. One of the courses he teaches is Engineering 2500: A History of Modern Engineering. It is through teaching this class that Dr. Manring came to know Tim Perry, one of our Special Collections Librarians. Tim arranged a lecture and demonstration on the printing press to teach the students about the history of the book, and the progression of book making since Gutenberg’s printing press in the 1450s.

“Tim arranged an entire demonstration and working lecture for our students. He answered questions, translated texts, and explained the significance of each item that was shown. There were three tables full of items to show and discuss. It was a very rich experience for my class – something I could not have provided for our students on my own.The library has a tremendous collection of printed material since Gutenberg’s day, including an original page from a Gutenberg Bible!”

We asked Dr. Manring what advice he had for those interested in using the library: “Make inquiries as to what resources are available, and use them! I was referred to the Special Collections section of the library by Prof. Mark Smith in History, and I have since used this resource for my class three times. Before Mark pointed me in this direction, I had no idea what was available and the wealth of information that could be drawn from our archives.”

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

Story written by Taira Meadowcroft, health sciences librarian.

home Cycle of Success Congratulations to Noah Manring, New Dean of the College of Engineering

Congratulations to Noah Manring, New Dean of the College of Engineering

By Shannon Cary Posted in Cycle of Success

Posted on April 16, 2021April 30, 2021

On April 14, it was announced that Noah Manring will be the new dean of the MU College of Engineering. Manring has served as the interim dean of the college since May 2020. He will assume his new duties on May 1, which include leadership, advocacy for research and education, and continued excellence and growth in research, education and campus diversity.

The MU Libraries want to congratulate Dr. Manring and wish him the best in his new role.

MU News Press Release: Manring Named New Dean of the College of Engineering

Cycle of Success: Dr. Noah Manring and Engineering 2500

home Resources and Services Looking Back on 2020: Engaging Emails

Looking Back on 2020: Engaging Emails

By Shannon Cary Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on March 25, 2021April 25, 2021

While 2020 truly threw some curve balls, our MU Librarians and staff never missed a step and continued to serve. Take a look at a few innovative ways they helped our community, kept faculty informed, and stayed busy throughout one of the most challenging years.

Kimberly Moeller, instructional services and social sciences librarian, realized how important it was to keep her faculty informed about all the library services available as everyone at MIzzou learned how to navigate in an online-only environment. Throughout the spring and summer, she sent out biweekly email messages to the chairs of each department she works with, who could then share the information to their department faculty and graduate students. For each email she tried to center the message on a particular theme such as online library instruction, electronic resources, end of semester resources for students, and Black Lives Matter resources. “They’ve been received pretty well from what I can tell, and I have had an increase in communications with faculty since starting them,” Moeller said.  

home Cycle of Success Mizzou Libraries Display Students’ Creative Work Even During Pandemic

Mizzou Libraries Display Students’ Creative Work Even During Pandemic

By Shannon Cary Posted in Cycle of Success

Posted on March 19, 2021April 18, 2023

In the Fall of 2020, Dr. Sarah Buchanan was teaching an Honors seminar on material culture and had planned to exhibit work created by her students. Restrictions on gallery visits due to the pandemic meant that her students would be accessing materials primarily online, with the possibilities for displaying their work curbed greatly. Buchanan conferred with Kelli Hansen, Head of Special Collections, and Marie Concannon, the head of government information at Mizzou Libraries, who had collaborated with her to display the physical exhibit in Ellis Library in previous years. Concannon brought in Shannon Cary, the Libraries’ communications officer, who offered to display the exhibit on the Libraries’ website.

The exhibit “Making Art for All/Our Time” showcased work by undergraduate students for the Honors seminar “Get Real, Go Places! Let Objects Take You There.” Over eight weeks, the students gathered on Zoom to peer inside the galleries, shelves and sidewalks of campus where objects of material culture are prudently managed for public interactions. The course introduces students to the practice of interpreting, inspecting and writing about objects through regular use of a sketchbook journal and weekly syntheses shared with classmates. The course is taught by Dr. Buchanan of the iSchool at the University of Missouri along with gallery, library, archive and museum (GLAM) professionals based on the Mizzou campus who contribute to the Material Culture Studies Group, established in 2014.

The Mizzou Libraries were also able to contribute to the class by providing some of its own material culture for the curriculum. The students were introduced to Special Collections through a Zoom session that focused on a broad range of items, including cuneiform tablets, maps, artists’ books and works of art. Items selected for this class are browsable on the Special Collections website.

Buchanan stated that, her “desired outcomes for the exhibit of Honors student works are to showcase themed explorations of objects we encounter across Mizzou’s galleries, libraries, archives, and museums – promoting collection uses while introducing students to material culture research.” The seminar is a central part of Buchanan’s research and teaching activities focused around provenance research, recently funded by an IMLS Early Career Development grant (the first to MU). Provenance research when applied to objects from cultures past and present can foster stronger connections between a person’s heritage, homelands, and present-day learning.

The digital display, which is still available online, includes a clay sculpture recreation of a political cartoon, a colored pencil response to works shown in the Bingham Art Gallery, and an embroidered fiber art piece depicting the plants and native species of Missouri, among others. “One digital artwork revisits the 1916 Golden Lane protest in St. Louis,” according to Buchanan, “and reminds us that art persists and connects our communities to each other.” She says the exhibit title also sought to capture the alternating sense of time being suspended yet urgent in the virtual semester, when “traveling” involved more screens and fewer miles.

The Libraries were happy to contribute to the success of the exhibit by displaying it on our website. Buchanan said she appreciated the “librarians’ flexibility in transitioning from a planned in-person exhibit to a digital post, given the physical risks right now. The students are thankful and happy to see their work alongside their classmates’.”

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